


The Fall of the United States and the Rise of Gilead

by Galinthias



Category: The Handmaid's Tale (TV)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-13
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 15:02:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14917583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galinthias/pseuds/Galinthias
Summary: How Gilead's world became a reality, mildly related to the books epilogue with Professor Piexoto.





	The Fall of the United States and the Rise of Gilead

The rise of Gilead can definitively be traced to the events of the early 21st century, with the rise of R-strain syphilis and the fragmenting identity politics of the era. The roots of the Gileadean movement started with the “Childless Generation” and the rise of the newest strain of sexually transmitted disease. R-strain syphilis, with cases first reported in early 2013, had virtually no symptoms; aside from a few patients experiencing genital sores and low-grade fever, most would not experience anything until they would try to have children. This infertility affected around 55-65% of those infected, while any baby miraculously born to an infected having severe birth defects or being stillborn. Within 12 months after cases were first reported, around 35% of the population was infected, with even more people choosing not to have children due to fears about the disease, which by then had water-borne and airborne variants. In late 2014, extremely violent riots happened outside of CDC headquarters, exclaiming that the government had done nothing to help against the infection, the riots ended up killing 42 people and costing millions in damage to Atlanta. By early 2015, birth rates had plummeted to nearly 21% of 2012’s values and America began to fragment further, bowing under the weight of an economic collapse not seen since the Great Depression. In February of 2015, the stock market crashed and the dollar plummeted in value, with many key companies declaring bankruptcy in a matter of weeks-- including Microsoft, Boeing, and Amazon. Unemployment rose to a high rate of 31% in many states, with millions more facing demotion and loss of pay. Foreclosures rose dramatically, with homeless rates in cities reaching around 1 out of 10 people. This dramatic change in the welfare of America caused a great polarization in the politics of the general American, Fear and distrust being the greatest factor. The percentages of Americans either being far-left or right changed dramatically, with a survey in April of 2015 stating that roughly 35% of Americans considered themselves far-right and 30% considering themselves far-left. Riots would continue for months in many parts of the country, with police only retaining a modicum of control over large cities. Also on the rise was militia groups, previously considered the domain of conspiracy- theorists and crazy men and women, militias began to grow on the daily. Mainly groups of far-right white supremacists, though there were communist and far left groups as well, there were around 400 new groups who began to operate in 14 states, with around five million new members. In the July of 2015, a group called the Sons of Jacob was founded, based on redpill ideology, that the woman should stay at home and be chiefly a child-bearer. What was more attractive about this group than the others, is that several rich members offered jobs and schooling to members who needed it, making people who didn't necessarily agree with them join to get a job. Membership originally stood at 55,000 members in 12 states in December of 2015, but grew to 655,000 in December of 2016-- attracting many influential men, including celebrities and army generals, all attracted to the message of saving America through God and returning America to a family-state. Things in America continued to worsen, with birthrates down to just 12% of 2012 levels, and polarization of politics continued. In February of 2017, the wife of a commander in the Sons of Jacob was shot at a rally in St. Louis, nearly killing her. This event caused massive outrage in the then million strong of the Sons of Jacob. The event caused riots and counter riots between people who supported the shooter and those who wished to see him punished, various areas of the country were torn apart, with left-wing areas of the country tearing into right wingers, and the opposite happening in right wing territory. The national guard was mobilized by the new President, and as he tried to maintain order, his already lackluster support by both groups began to falter. In the State of the Union address, a plan that the Sons of Jacob had been working on for a year and a half came to fruition. On February 28th, 2017, gunmen broke into the Capitol building and killed most of Congress, the President and Vice President, and almost all of the Supreme Court Justices. Blaming this publicly on Muslim extremists, riots spiralled out of control once more. Under the pretext of restoring order, the Sons of Jacob began to try to control of the contiguous United States, battling against an interim government and other militia groups, and on April 26, 2017 declared themselves the true government of the United States. This ignored the other groups claiming this position, including the remainder of Congress based in Anchorage after Washington DC fell to Gilead. Gilead would maintain this control for around eight weeks, before resistance to it's policies grew to the point where open resistance overtook this control. During this tense period, in which civil rights slowly constricted, millions of people fled the country, with around a million finding homes in Canada alone. The “American Diaspora” is believed to have been comprised of around 9 million people. Women were taken from their jobs, travel was restricted, and colleges were sacked. In the transitional period of the United States of America to Gilead, many groups were targeted for extinction or re-education, including college professors, nuns, members of the LGBT spectrum, doctors, and many more.While support initially was great among many religious groups, violations took that away quickly. The Sons of Jacob massacred 34 nuns at a convent as they refused to give up their fertile nuns to become newly- minted handmaids, and as that news spread, a riot broke out, damaging enough that the government declared Catholicism a heresy and their practice was banned. This created great resistance to their rule in many pro- Catholic groups. After riots and militia violence from Baptist groups shook many Southern states, the entire denomination was considered a heresy. Gilead alienated many of its former allies in its increasing extremism and in its nasty habit of banning or restricting any group that dared speak out against any practice. Finally, in June, the most holy state of Gilead was declared, replacing the USA. Backlash was immediate, with several groups taking over whole states, and Gileadean control crumbling in many more. Gilead was then confined to the East Coast, with control fading across the Mississippi. This by no means meant that Gilead had total control over everything east, as the Second American Civil War was almost totally fought as a guerilla war, with no territory being truly in the hands of another. Militia groups ruled the lands west of the Mississippi, with counterattacks and infighting damaging infrastructure across the whole of the country, peaking with a concentrated attack on several nuclear power plants in Tennessee and the Carolinas created first of many Colonies. The Provisional Government of the United States tried to reign in control of the two states in its care, Alaska and Hawaii, and give support to the millions of refugees outside of Gilead. During this chaotic time period, inside Gilead the caste system began to form. Wives of commanders in the Sons of Jacob rose to the top of the order, numbering about a million, Econowives were next, named for the fact that they were less than the Wives, and they consisted of married women who had not committed any crimes and whose marriage was still considered legal. At this interim time, the only other caste in existence were the Handmaids, products of the Rachel and Leah centers across Gilead, these consisted of any fertile woman who had committed one of many crimes against Gilead, who was reeducated to provide children to Wives and Commanders they were assigned to. They were controlled by the precursors to the Aunts, who at this time were the only subsection of women who were allowed to be mildly independent. Becoming an Aunt was one of the few ways an unmarried woman of middle age could get by at this time, escaping the many purges going on in Gileadean society. While males were technically in the place of power, the caste system still restricted most. The various appendages of The Sons of Jacob were given the most power, for instance the Commanders of the Faithful were the highest ranking members of the Sons of Jacob, given manor houses and legitimate marriages. The secret division of the SOJ police were given the name “The Eyes” and rooted out many heretical people. The “Angels” were regular members of the SOJ, former US soldiers, and physically fit drafted civilians. “Guardians of the Faith” were any other male not fitting in to the above standard, they were all given low regulated training and either policed the streets or ,the majority held normal jobs. Aside from the commanders, the rest of the males could marry the daughters of middle class families or commanders themselves, making them Econowives, unless their husbands were promoted. Many aspects of American society were declared heretical, including many restaurants, resorts, and recreational sites, leading to a great change from the time before. People were supposed to be at home to pray and make children and that is exactly what Gilead would have them do. Massive changes were ordered by the Gilead high command, and their orders were followed. By June of 2020, much of American society had changed, while remnants remained-- society had begun to take shape under Gilead’s watchful eye. The war had still not taken to Gilead’s favor, though God was on their side-- they still only fully controlled the northeast quadrant of the United States, with rival groups battling for control in the South and other groups controlling the rest of the country. The United States continued to offer aid and safe passage to people wishing to leave Gilead, but their resources were stretched, with Alaska and Hawaii overflowing with refugees and having to deal with a large army that suddenly had no bases. Gileadean culture continued to mature, as they tried to find uses for each subsection of the population, the castes began to form with Aunts becoming a formalised part of the female caste structure. Those women who did not wish to aid in their oppression were often sent to higher ranking households to serve as servants and became Marthas if they were compliant, those who weren't were sent to the ecological dead zones known as the “Colonies” or if they were attractive enough, became Jezebels, the harlots of society. More areas of Gilead were designated as Colonies, including areas of high agricultural yield, those that needed rebuilding, and areas that were valuable but dangerous due to civilian resistance. Many were sent here, as they essentially became forced labor camps, the ones with better conditions housed “lesser sinners”, or those who had advanced degrees or taught at college, those who were of currently banned religions, or women who did not fit into Gilead's power structure. Life at these better camps was rough but didn't kill outright, lifespan after entering could go up to twenty years. Those who committed gender treachery, or committed treason, or those who spoke out against Gilead were sent to the worst ones, the ones that radioactive filth obscured the sky. These people, if they made it through their first year, made it five years at best. Gilead in its first three years, did it's best to change to change the face of America, and while in some areas it succeeded, it destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure and economy in the process. The trajectory of Gilead would continue until July 4th, 2022, when reunification talks between the United States and the Californian Republic succeeded, and the West Coast re-entered the Union-- resuming the Second American Civil War and ending the Early Gilead Period.


End file.
